WBI Founders

Our 20 Year Record

From June 1997 until the present, the Namies have led the first and only U.S. organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that combines help for individuals via our websites & over 12,000 consultations, telephone coaching, conducting & popularizing scientific research, authoring books, producing education DVDs, leading training for professionals-unions-employers, coordinating national legislative advocacy, and providing consulting solutions for organizations.

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Posts Tagged ‘blaming the victim’

Our societal tendency to blame victims of all sorts undercuts our ability to make systemic changes. If individuals are responsible rather than schools, employers and man-made (sic) organizations, then nothing ever has to change.

This is one of the many forms of resistance we face in the workplace bullying movement.

An interesting case surfaced in which a Wisconsin high school principal, Jon Wiltzius, was upset with a story published in the student’s monthly magazine. The editors bravely took on the topic of rape and blaming victims in their school. Three victims told their stories anonymously. Kudos for editors-in-chief Rachel Schneider and Tanvi Kumar.

The cover story ruffled the feathers of the principal responsible for the organizational (building) culture. His reaction — to cite case law that the District has control, not the student editors, over the publication — rather than hold an assembly to have all students discuss what may contribute to the normalization of sexual assault in high school and what his school could do about it. Oops. Guess the students are more adult about this serious topic than the principal who chooses to duck his responsibility.

Krister Johnson was a staff writer on the Onion’s show “SportsDome” which aired on Comedy Central in 2011. This is one of the stories she did–full credit to David Iscoe (twitter.com/realhumanbeing) for the idea and script.

Johnson said:

It could have been produced by the CNN team covering the Steubenville rape verdict.